Christ Health Center
The Christ Health Center is a mission outreach of the Church of the Highlands housed in the former Eastern Health Center at 5720 1st Avenue South. Its executive director is Robert Record.
Development of the center was supported by a 2005 award from the Memphis, Tennessee-based Christian Community Health Fellowship and the ministry began serving patients at The Foundry in Bessemer. Physicians Record, John Fischer and Marion Sims staffed the center.
The current facility and adjacent historic Birmingham Fire Station No. 12 were purchased from the Jefferson County Health Department for $300,000 in 2007, and an additional $1.7 million was spent on renovations of the two buildings. The health clinic was modernized and re-opened as a medical clinic on March 24, 2009. The fire station was restored to house the church's Dream Center community outreach missions and opened the following July.
A second Christ Health Center clinic opened at the St Vincent's East Family Medicine Clinic at 2152 Old Springville Road in Chalkville.
In 2019 the center expanded with a newly-constructed Christ Health Behavioral Health Center, which offers mental health services as part of a "holistic" approach to treating patients.
Christ Health Center operated a testing and vaccination site during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic.
As a Federally Qualified Health Center which treats uninsured patients, the center was awarded $5.1 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan in 2021.
References
- Garrison, Greg (September 13, 2008) "Church of the Highlands to purchase Eastern Health Center and Woodlawn fire station to establish a ministry-run health clinic." The Birmingham News
- "The Dream Center mission opens in abandoned Woodlawn Fire Station." (July 18, 2009) The Birmingham News
- Garrison, Greg (April 5, 2021) "U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell visits Woodlawn clinic that’s getting $5 million." The Birmingham News
External links
- Christ Health Center website